Peripheral neuropathy or menopause?

If you have been diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy with no known cause and are female it's possible the cause is the dreaded "M" word.Last year I was diagnosed with PN.At the time I had been doing a lot of work on my house using oil based paints and solvents. I had also been stripping lead based paint.It seemed a logical conclusion.Then a few weeks ago I found a site called Power Surge which was created for women entering that time of life.On the message boards I found lots of women suffering from the same symptoms I was having: burning, tingling in my feet and hands, sore heels, electric shock like feelings in legs, restless legs, etc.I am 55 and had my last period in July of last year. The symtoms started 3 months later.Yesterday I saw a doctor who specializes in menopause.As I went through the 8 or so pages of the questionaire, which asked for medical history and listed symtoms, I found every single one of the symptoms I have.Apparently what happens is the blood flow decreases when estrogen ceases to be produced.This affects your nerves, muscles, joints, hair and can cause symptoms that mimic peripheral neuropathy.The onset can be well before you actually reach menopause.Doctors who don't specialize in this area seem to be unaware of this.I'm afraid there are hundreds of women who go undiagnosed or are misdiagnosed due to this ignorance.Please, if this describes you, get yourself armed with info and see your OBGYN or , if possible, a specialist in menopause.There are many books on the subject. The one that my doctor gave my is "the pause" by Lonnie Barbach.I'm not meaning to advertise and I have nothing to gain.I just want to save any women out there who may have been misdiagnosed a lot of grief.I really hope this helps some of you.